Video: Driver Pulls Cop Over for Speeding

Florida resident Claudia Castillo witnessed and recorded a Miami-Dade police officer speeding on the highway and was able to pull the officer over and question him about why he was driving so fast.

The officer was “driving recklessly” according to Castillo, and his speed was pushing 90 miles per hour. She only took her vehicle up to 80 miles per hour, and she was having a difficult time keeping up with him. The officer didn’t appear to be in an emergency situation, as neither his lights nor his siren was on.

Castillo followed the speeding police officer until he noticed her and pulled over. She pulled over on the side of the highway behind him, and he came to her window. She told the cop, “The reason I pulled you over…I saw you pushing 90 miles per hour…I just wanted to know, what’s the emergency?”

The cop replied that he was on his way to work, and that he didn’t believe he was speeding. But he apologized and said that he’d slow down. CBS Miami reported:

Here’s part of Castillo’s cell phone footage:

Speeding laws are in place purportedly for public safety. While there are for sure many officials who believe that’s the primary purpose, evidence shows that speeding laws are in place primarily to collect revenue.

Then-D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray in 2012 proposed filling part of a $172 million budget gap by increasing “traffic calming” revenue from speed cameras by $70 million. Critics wondered how Gray knew there would be $70 million worth more speeding that year.

New York City generated $41 million in revenue from speed cameras last year, according to the Washington Post Magazine. Chicago realized $40 million the same year, while Philadelphia got $16 million. As for D.C., the Post calculated that revenues from speed cameras plummeted from $88.8 million in 2013 to $30.6 million last year.

“The unseen force in all of this is the vendor, who gets 30 percent, between 30 and 33 percent,” said [AAA spokesman John] Townsend. “Why would you give the 30 percent to a vendor who doesn’t care about law enforcement?”

Not all states have speed cameras. Twelve do, and thirteen prohibit their use.

If speeding laws were truly about public safety, the law enforcement community would lead by example. The fact that many police officers routinely speed, run stop signs and red lights, and the fact that speeding laws provide an easy opportunity to make a lot of money, indicate that public safety isn’t really the top concern. Even in states that don’t have speed cameras, ticketing drivers for speeding is still a moneymaker for the police department and local municipality.